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Saturday, December 7, 2013

A Farewell to Arms: Beginning

The next book I will be reading is A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway. This book was written in 1929 and was Hemingway's first best-seller.

It is a love story between Lt. Henry, an American ambulance driver serving in the Italian army during World War I and a British nurse: Catherine Barkley.

An interesting fact: in the first editions of the work, certain swear words (I'm too much of a lady to name them here!) were replaced with dashes. This book has been adapted for stage, screen and radio, including a 1932 screen adaptation which was nominated for an Academy Award.

I have read one piece of Hemingway's before: The Old Man and the Sea. I was in high school and any ironic symbolism was completely lost on me and I hated it. I thought it was the stupidest story and for a long time I used that and Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath as proof that most American literature was horrid. However, having said that, I am much older (and I hope, wiser) now and with a little relevant life experience and appreciation for hidden messages in literature, I think I have a decent chance of enjoying this one.

I'm reading a hard-copy version of this, specifically the 2003 paperback version published by Scribner. The copy is a little worn around the edges, but since I bought it for two dollars at a book sale, I don't really mind. This merely allows me to feel more comfortable folding down page corners and leaving it splayed open on the coffee table while I get another cup of tea. This copy has 332 pages, and because it's much easier to read than Faust, I'm anticipating that I'll get through it pretty quickly.